Today we celebrate the birthday of Leonardo Balada, an American composer born in Barcelona, Spain, on Sept. 22nd, 1933.

After studying at the Barcelona conservatory, the 20-something composer came to New York on a musical scholarship.

Balada recalls his arrival as both a cultural and climatic shock: “When I landed in New York—on a freezing day in 1956—little did I know of the mental turmoil I would experience in the next few years. That city had become the focal point for the latest music and arts. New York shook my musically conservative upbringing to its roots.”

Like many composers of his generation, Balada felt he had to decide whether to follow the path of the abstract serialists who dominated music at that time, or find his own way and voice.

“I felt a strong necessity to become up to date aesthetically,” recalls Balada, “to look to the future and not be criticized as a reactionary. How could it be otherwise for a liberal young fellow brought up in Spain, opposed to Franco’s conservatism? On the other hand the music I was listening to in New York was not for me.”

Encouraged by the great Spanish guitarist Narciso Yepes, Balada began to draw on his own imagination and cultural heritage, eventually blending contemporary techniques with the elements of a more traditional language, often infused with Spanish themes.